Knitwear articles having collars



Nov. 22, 1966 T. R. O'CONNOR KNITWEAR ARTICLES HAVING COLLARS Filed April 2'7, 1964 INVENTOR. r TERENCE RICHARD O'CONNOR Fuji-W ATTORNEYS United States Patent 6 4 Claims. c1. 2-116) This invention relates to improvements in knitwear articles of the type having collars and it is primarily applicable to collar-attached shirts made of machine knitted fabric.

While it is desired to wear this knitwear type of shirt at different times because it is particularly comfortable to wear, the somewhat casual appearance afforded by it inhibits its use on occasions when a somewhat tidier appearance is desired. One reason for this is the collar which by virtue of being made of knitted fabric tends to lay irregularly and does not look neat and tidy.

An object of the invention is to improve the collars of these knitwear articles in such manner that they are sufficiently neat and tidy in appearance to warrant being worn on many different occasions.

The invention provides a garment formed of knitted materials having a collar formed of knitted materials secured thereto said collar being initially of substantially rectangular form and knitted on a two needle bed knitting machine to form an open ended tube at each end thereof and before sewing to the garment having stiffening means inserted into said tubes.

The collar is of the type attached to the body of the article by sewing and conveniently the tubes of the knitted fabric are closed at their outer ends during the knitting of the collar, the other end being initially open for insertion of a collar stiffening strip and subsequently closed by securing of the collar to the article body.

The collar can have the tubes extending walewise or coursewise as desired.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood reference Will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which;

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a garment according to the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a detailed part perspective view of a collar according to the present invention.

An outer-garment made of knitted materials is shown, in FIGURE 1 and comprises a body portion 1 having sleeves 2, a neck opening 4 with a collar 5 around the opening and provided with a button to closure strip 3 to fasten the collar securely around the neck of a wearer but which present the larger diameter of the head to pass freely through the neck opening when open.

The collar 5 is of rib knitted material 5 and is formed as a rectanguar strip which is then secured around the neck opening by a sewing machine.

3,286,278 Patented Nov. 22, 1966 The collar 5 has a transverse tube 7 formed at each end into which is inserted a strip of stiffened material 8. The tube 7 is preferably formed during the knitting of the collar and has one end closed and the other left open so that the strip 8 can be inserted. The open end is then closed when the collar is sewn around the neck opening of the garment.

The strip 8 may be of any convenient material as for example, bone or synthetic plastic material.

The collar can be produced on any type of machine having two needle beds, the needles being operated in any suitable rib formation for producing the rib fabric of any desired rib formation, any suitable means being provided for forming the tubes by knitting nonrib fabric on needles in each bed separately.

The collar may be knitted with the wales extending widthwise of the collar in which event the tubes will be formed on a few needles at the selvedges.

Alternatively the collar may be knitted with the wales extending lengthwise thereof in which event first one tube will be made on all the active needles to the extent of a few courses, then the main part of the collar will be knitted followed by knitting the other tube on all the active needles to the extent of the last few courses.

It will be understood that this type of shirt, being made of knitted fabric, is very soft and flexible particuarly suitable for casual wear but the addition of the stiifeners to the collar so improve the appearance of the shirt that it can be worn on many occasions when this type of shirt without stiffened collars would not generally be worn.

What I claim is:

1. In a knitted garment, a knit collar having (a) a transverse, integrally knit, tube formed adjacent each end thereof,

(b) the outer end of each tube being closed by knitted stitches,

(c) collar stiffening means disposed within each tube and (d) sewn stitches closing the inner end of each tube,

and joining the collar to the garment.

2. A garment according to claim 1 in which the collar is formed of rib knitted materials.

3. A garment according to claim 1 in which the stiffening means consist of strips of synthetic plastic materials.

4. A garment according to claim 1 in which the stiffening means consist of strips of bone.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,283,698 11/1918 Doty 2-132 3,030,630 4/1962 Kattermann 2-116 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD J. SCANLAN, 1a., Examiner. 

1. IN A KNITTED GARMENT, A KNIT COLLAR HAVING (A) A TRANSVERSE, INTEGRALLY KNIT, TUBE FORMED ADJACENT EACH END THEREOF, (B) THE OUTER END OF EACH TUBE BEING CLOSED BY KNITTED STITCHES, (C) COLLAR STIFFENING MEANS DISPOSED WITHIN EACH TUBE AND 